Quest of a Master
by davenwell25
Summary: My dream was to defeat every member of every League on my way to become a Master. Little did I know me and my friends' idea of an adventure was underwhelming compared to what we got to experience.
1. The Top Five

Chapter One: The Top Five

The day had finally arrived, I couldn't believe it. Six years of Lower School, four years of Upper School, and two years majoring in training at Hearthome University and it was finally placement day. Placement day was the day where the top five training majors who scored the highest on their graduation exams in all of Sinnoh were invited to Jubilife City to find out which three were the highest ranked and would get their first Pokemon from Professor Rowan. Everyone knew that Professor Rowan gave out a Turtwig, a Chimchar, and a Piplup every year, but they were such rare Pokemon that everyone wanted them. Not to mention the honor of being a top three finisher in the region as well as the grand prize of a Prime Starter Kit, a pack that had everything you would need on a journey all for free.

Needless to say I wanted to win; being the highest ranked graduate in all of Sinnoh would be a dream beginning to my journey of becoming a Master.

I couldn't help but think my parents had it easy back in their day when you only had to be ten years old to legally start training instead of eighteen. Training had become so much more regulated after the Galactic situation. Champion Cynthia had put her foot down when it came to the safety of her people.

On my way down to breakfast I reminisced about my days at Hearthome U and spending all my time with my two best friends, Ava and Brent. We were already planning on leaving together on a journey together when the New Year rolled around, and Ava was a Top Five nominee with me. Brent had received his placement letter and was informed he was only fourteenth. Not that fourteenth in the region was bad at all.

I finally met up with Ava and our families downstairs for breakfast. Ava and I didn't say much, we were nervous about the announcement. We had been informed the night before that all of the Gym Leaders, all four members of the Elite Four, and Champion Cynthia would all be at the celebration with Professor Rowan. Not to mention the media. I had already caught a couple of reporters snooping around my floor the night before.

Training was a big deal in Sinnoh, the biggest deal. Everyone who had half a brain was interested in the newest crop of trainers each year, especially those who would be in the Top Three. And it was an even bigger deal now that Leo Garcia, the first ever person to finish number one five years ago, had claimed the Championship in Hoenn, it made for quite a shakeup in leadership rolls around all of the regions.

It wasn't long until Ava and I were ushered onto a stage by some producer for the event and told we would be answering some questions about ourselves before the announcement so that Sinnoh could get to know us. Ava actually looked slightly excited. I was terrified. I had never dreamed of being on TV for something like this, and all of Sinnoh was going to see me.

We waited in a back room and were called onto the stage one by one for the interviews. Naturally, I was last. They told me to walk out and take my seat. I walked through the curtain to an explosion of applause. At first I almost ran back into the back room, but I remembered all of Sinnoh was watching, and I forced a smile and gave the crowd a wave. I quickly made my way into the seat next to Professor Rowan.

It was the first time I got to see him up close. My only thought on him was that he was old, really old. After thinking about it I realized he must have been around eighty years old by now. And he was still kicking. He pulled me out of my thoughts with a grunted hello and his first question.

"Can you tell us your name, son?"

"Um, I'm Chuck Long." I couldn't help but stammer. All of the lights and people were making me sweat.

"No need to be nervous, m'boy." He gave me a quick smile and moved onto the questioning. He asked me where I grew up, and about school, and about my plans for training and I answered everything as quickly as I could while still trying to entertain. He finally asked me a question I had known the answer to since I was five years old. "What is your dream, Chuck?"

My eyes lit up with passion, and I knew the viewers would eat this up. "I'm going to be a Master. I'm going to defeat every Gym Leader, every Elite Four member, and every Champion in all five regions and I'm going to achieve the rank of Master, something that has only been done once before."

"You have no interest of defeating a Champion and taking over their responsibilities like we recently saw Leo Garcia do in Hoenn?" Rowan looked as interested as the people in the crowd did.

"No, sir. I do love Sinnoh, and I do want it to be as safe and fruitful as possible, but I am not the kind of guy who wants to lead a region of people. I want to lead a team of six Pokemon and I want to lead them to victory against every opponent I face. That is my dream, sir, and I plan on fulfilling it."

The crowd roared with applause and the smile that came across my face was real this time. I knew they could feel my passion for training, and I knew that they wanted me to succeed. Professor Rowan shook my hand goodbye and led me off the stage.

Back in the back room, or the lounge as the producers called it, I sat down with Ava and let out a sigh of relief.

"You were great, Chuck. I didn't think you had that in you."

"Neither did I. I know Brent's gonna give me crap about it too."

"All you'll have to do to get him back is remind him who was in the Top Five" she gave a quick smile as she got up to talk to get something to drink.

Not too long after that we were all called back onto the stage and sat down in five chairs facing the crowd. Between us and the screaming fans were thirteen chairs filled with the most influential people in Sinnoh, the members of the Sinnoh League, all eight Gym Leaders, all four members of the Elite Four, and Champion Cynthia. Professor Rowan was on stage with us and was speaking into one of the cameras.

"Before we announce how our Top Five placed, I hear we have a special announcement from Champion Cynthia and the members of the Sinnoh League." he pointed toward Cynthia and she started addressing the region.

"Thank you Professor Rowan, and yes, we wanted to take this moment to thank two members of the League and congratulate them on their retirements." This got a collective gasp out of the crowd. "We are sad to say goodbye to two very influential members of the League, Elite Four member, Bertha, and Pastoria City Gym Leader, Crasher Wake. But we are very happy to announce the newest members of the League." More gasping, people shouting out guesses, and applause for the retirees followed her statement. "First we will announce that Volkner, Gym Leader of Sunyshore City, has agreed to move up to the Elite Four." Volkner stood up and gave a huge wave to the crowd in answer to their massive applause. He was a Sinnoh favorite. "We are happy to announce the newest Gym Leaders of Pastoria City and Sunyshore City respectively, Roxie and Marlon from the Unova region!" The crowd burst into applause, Roxie and Marlon were famous for their attempts to get into any gym circuit they could, and it seemed they had found a home here in Sinnoh.

Professor Rowan finally managed to be heard over the crowd and turned the attention back toward us. "I will now announce the placement of our Top Five." My heart jumped into my throat and then dove down to my stomach. I wasn't expecting that so quickly. Suddenly the lights seemed brighter and the crowd seemed more like a mob. My instinct was to run but I told myself it was going to be fine. No matter what happened today I was still going to be a Master one day.

"In fifth place…..Chuck Long!" I had to stop and think for a moment. Fifth? I couldn't believe it. Ava and these three strangers all beat me. The crowd gave me a respectful applause before Rowan moved on to fourth place. "The fourth ranked new trainer in all of Sinnoh is…..Ava Simmons!" Ava looked as dejected as I felt, and we gave each other small smiles of comfort before the three strangers would find out the order they got to pick their Pokemon in. Professor Rowan first announced the name of Kent Harbor, who was sitting to my left. Then Amy Jones, who I finally realized was the daughter of Veilstone City's Gym Leader, Maylene. Last Rowan calmed down the crowd as he announced Levi Young as the number one ranked new trainer in Sinnoh.

All I wanted to do was go home, but Ava and I had to stay for the selection ceremony as a show of good will. We stayed and watched solemnly as Levi chose a young Turtwig, Amy picked a feisty Chimchar, and Kent happily accepted a female Piplup as his partner.

My family and Ava's family caught the first plane back to Hearthome as quickly as possible before we were cornered by the Sharpedos known as the media. By the time we finally got back home I went straight to my room to sleep off what turned out to be a useless trip to Jubilife City.


	2. The Only Egg-Ception

I finally decided it was safe to leave my room late the next morning. My parents were extremely supportive of me and told me how proud they were of me. They didn't pour on the love too hard because, as ex-trainers, they knew how it felt to not win a competition. I ate some breakfast and flipped on the TV to find myself staring back at me with a huge smile.

"I'm going to be a Master."

My own words sparked me out of my funk and I remembered what I said to myself just before the announcement. Nothing would stop me from fulfilling my dreams. I buckled down immediately and went to my parents. "Ava, Brent, and I plan on leaving in about two months for our journey. It's time we got down to business. I need a Pokemon and I need to start finalizing my arrangements. I'm going to head to school today to pick up my official Trainer I.D. and then I'm going to use the money Grandma and Grandpa gave me for a graduation present on a Pokedex."

"Sounds like a plan to me" my father was beaming at me. "What kind of Pokemon do you want? We plan on getting you an egg so you can raise it yourself and it will give you something to do and it should hatch by the time you're ready to leave."

I was sort of taken aback by the fact that my parents were willing to buy me an egg. I thought I was going to have to get my own Pokemon with one of their old Pokeballs and a stick. Luckily I already knew the answer. "I want a dragon, I don't care which, but I want a dragon."

"Charlie, dragons are expensive, we'll try our best, but what if we can't afford it?" my mom was always the one thinking things through, which is probably why she always beat my dad in battles.

This I had also planned for, which I guess I got from my mother. "How about a fire type? And I want to be surprised so don't tell me what the species is when you get it."

My parents agreed to my deal and I set out for Hearthome University. As a graduate of the Trainer's School I was able to get an official Trainer I.D. card which would allow me to participate in Gym Battles, official tournaments, free use of Pokemon Centers, and free travel between regions. I got to the school, which was unfamiliarly empty and went straight to the counselor's office. There was a line of three kids ahead of me, none of whom I recognized. I did know the person who came in behind me though. He was a smaller guy, with short, dark hair, and glasses. His name was Connor Hall, I knew him from my researchers class. "Chuck, hey, it's good to see you."

"Hey there Connor. Good to see you too."

"I saw you on TV last night. Too bad about not getting Top Three, but at least your kind of a celebrity now, right?"

"I guess we'll see about that as time rolls around. What about you? What are your plans?"

"Actually, I got really lucky. I finished forty-fourth in the region overall but had a top five researchers score so the rest of the top five researchers and I were invited to work with Professor Rowan on an internship. My parents were so proud they got me a Pokemon!" he held out a minimized Pokeball almost begging me to ask to see it. I humored him and asked. I couldn't help but be curious.

He maximized the ball and opened it, aiming it at his free hand. A tiny Caterpie wormed its way up Connor's arm. Honestly, I was jealous. Just seeing him with a Pokemon got me so excited, even one as common as a Caterpie. "What's its name?" I couldn't help but want to know more about it.

"His name is Xavier. Isn't he just great?" the more I watched Connor gush over Xavier the more I wanted a Pokemon of my own. Before long my name was called and I was brought in to receive my I.D. When I came back out Connor was gone so I didn't get to see Xavier again.

Just as I walked out of the building my cell phone rang. It was Brent. I knew what was coming so I picked up. In all my genius I had called exactly what the first thing Brent would say to me. "Way to make yourself look all emotional in front of Sinnoh last night, bro."

"You're just jealous you didn't get to be on TV cuz you weren't in the Top Five." I thanked Ava for that one later.

"Fair enough. Listen, I got something I wanna show you. Can you come over?"

"Yeah, sure, just give me like half an hour I've gotta go buy a Pokedex."

"Come here first. I've gotta get a Pokedex too. And this will be worth it."

I agreed and couldn't help but wonder what it was he wanted to show me. I guess I was just in a curious mood.

I got to Brent's and went straight inside to find my best friend staring at me with a silly grin and his hands behind his back. It was really funny considering he was six-one, really muscular, and had a fade. "What did you want to show me?"

He pulled his arms around and in them was a big, shiny egg. It was a dark blue color with what kind of looked like light blue bubbles on it. "This is Bubbles, my first Pokemon. My parents gave it to me yesterday. Isn't it great?"

It was great. I was really happy for him, but I couldn't help but feel that tinge of jealousy again. "It's awesome. You already named it though? What's up with that? Do you even know what kind of Pokemon it is?"

"That doesn't matter, look at the egg. How could I not call this little thing Bubbles? I don't care if Arceus itself hatches from this egg. I will still call it Bubbles."

I guess it made sense, even though I didn't plan on naming my Pokemon until I at least knew its gender, not to mention what species it was.

After some fussing over an egg carrier that Brent strapped onto himself we got into my car and went to the local Pokemon Center to use our Trainer I.D's to buy Pokedexes. Pokedexes were ridiculously expensive so we had to buy used ones from before the most recent update, but as long as it had the National Mode it would work for me.

On our way back to Brent's Ava called and asked us to go to her place to meet her Pokemon. Yep, I was the only one left in the entire universe it seemed, without a Pokemon. Her statement ended up being slightly exaggerated considering we found her wearing the exact same harness that Brent had on with an equally sized egg. Hers, unlike Brent's, was an orangey-red on the inside with a deeper red color on the top and bottom. The ends were almost as dark a red color as her hair. She had a less silly face than Brent did, but still a silly grin. We all sat down and ate lunch with her and her younger brothers and talked about our plans. Her brothers begged for us to take them, but they were only twelve.

I didn't get home until later that night considering I still had to take Brent home and I couldn't refuse one of his moms home cooked meals for dinner. I was half hoping I would come home to my parents presenting me with an egg, but breeders didn't grow on trees, especially not ones ready with dragon eggs.

The week went by kind of slowly with nothing much to do. Brent's older brother Jonah showed up to check in on everyone. He was twenty now, had been training for two years, and finished second in the region his graduating year. We got to hang out with him and his Pokemon for a few days while he told us stories of his training adventure. "I'm telling you guys, it is not as easy as we imagined it being growing up. I will have been on the road for two years in a couple months and have four badges and four Pokemon to show for it. Only one of them is evolved." He smiled at his Monferno, Chimp, and the rest of his team, Kori, his Corsola, Thrash, his Mankey, and Chu, his Pichu, the newest member of his team. "But I do love it."

"If you have the first four badges why don't you challenge Fantina while you're here? She is next in the circuit." Ava had stopped admiring Kori long enough to challenge Jonah.

"I was thinking about, but I would like to train Chu up a little bit more first. I'm gonna need her against Fantina's Drifblim."

"You said she's the one who managed to beat Crasher Wake's Gyarados. Why wouldn't she be able to go up against a Drifblim?"

"Kori had managed to weaken it a lot, and Chu hasn't been able to muster up another Thunder Punch since then."

He almost looked defeated and it made me sad. Jonah was one of our heroes. We had always looked up to him growing up and I wanted him to win that fifth badge before his two year anniversary rolled around. Not to mention, I wanted to have something to do with Pokemon until I got my egg. "Why don't you stay here and train until Chu can use Thunder Punch consistently? We'll help you. We've got nothing better to do."

"Ava and I have eggs to look after."

"Then I'll help you. It'll help me with learning how to train a little bit."

Jonah agreed to let me help him train as long as I didn't do anything stupid.

Another week rolled by and I spent nearly all my time with Jonah training Chu and his other Pokemon. He mostly had me battle against Chu with his other Pokemon until they all got too tired then we would break until the evening when he would work out with just Chu. I learned a lot from him and had a great time with his Pokemon. It wasn't long until the inevitability of Brent and Ava helping happened. They came out in the mornings with us and their eggs and we would take turns battling against Chu. I would usually use Chimp, Ava would use Kori, and Brent would use Thrash. It was a great distraction to that fact that I didn't have my own Pokemon yet.

After a particularly gruesome Saturday night workout I came home all sweaty and tired. My parents standing in the living room and they had the same giddy smile on their faces that Brent and Ava had when they showed me their eggs.

The giddiest smile of all made its way across mine.


	3. X Marks the Spot

Before I could say anything my mom asked me to pick either of them. I, of course, tried to get out of her little game but she insisted that I try to guess which one of them was holding what was undeniably an egg. Hopefully a dragon egg.

I chose my mother to humor her and she pulled not an egg, but a backpack, from behind her back. At first I frowned, but quickly realized my father must have the egg and they had gotten me another present. It was an awesome present on top of that. A backpack was probably the second most important thing to a trainer besides their Pokemon. You had to carry everything in it, it was the protector of all of your equipment while traveling, the last line of defense against Mother Nature herself. And this was no ordinary backpack. It was weather proofed for any conditions (including water-proofed), big enough to hold all of the supplies I would need but small enough to carry easily, and it was super organized into different pockets for quick and easy equipment storage. I knew this thing must have been really expensive. All I could do was smile at my amazing parents because I knew if I said anything they would have just shot it down.

After I put the backpack on to model it for my mom I looked up at my dad longingly. He hadn't budged since I walked in the front door and looked like he was going to start dancing out of excitement. "And what's behind your back, Pops?"

He carefully pulled a big, shiny egg from behind his back and held it out for me. I think I might have cried when I saw it. I ran to him and grabbed the egg and gave him the biggest hug I could without damaging the unborn Pokemon. I held the egg at arm's length to get a good look at it. It was solid grey with a red pattern looping around it that made it seem like it was marked with an X on either side. I immediately understood what Brent meant when he would have to call his Pokemon Bubbles.

I finally felt like I was ready to go. I had gotten through school, was now legally allowed to compete in the League, had my Pokedex, a backpack that the army would be jealous of, and the most important thing of all, my partner, my newest friend, my Pokemon.

After endless hugs and thank you's I brought the egg up to my room and went to bed, I was completely exhausted after all. I slept like a baby that night, and I was lucky I did because I would have slept right through my morning training session with Jonah, but he had decided to rest on Sunday. The first thing I did when I woke up was call Brent and Ava. We agreed to meet that afternoon so they could meet my Pokemon.

At around one o'clock we met out in the field Jonah had been using as his training ground. Ava, Brent, and Jonah all watched me with wonder as I hid my egg from them behind my back. Ava and Brent were both wearing their eggs in their harnesses and Jonah had released his whole team so they could meet my Pokemon. After what I felt was enough suspense I showed them my egg and announced "This is X."

"You get what I mean by needing to name this guy Bubbles now, don't you?" Brent smiled at me and gave the egg a pat hello.

"X? That seems like a ridiculous name." Ava smiled as she said this, she knew my mind wasn't going to be changed.

"I like it. It sounds strong. Do you know what kind of Pokemon it is?" Jonah asked me approvingly.

"No idea. And I don't want to know until it hatches." With the introduction done we played with Jonah's Pokemon for the afternoon and turned in early so we were rested up for more training in the morning.

Training with Jonah was the most fun I'd had in a long time. It was hard work but I really enjoyed it. We were up with the sunrise every day and battled until an early lunch. Then Jonah would talk to his Pokemon about strategies for their match against Fantina. I listened to every word he said, trying to think if I could apply anything to my training when we were on the road. Just before dinner we would meet up again and have cardio exercises. At first Jonah was only having Chu go through them with him, but as she got better he let the rest of the team out to take part too. He said he wanted her to know she was his focus, and that she was really important in their next match.

About a week and a half after I got my egg, so about two and a half weeks of training, Chu used Thunder Punch again. She and Jonah were practicing against Ava and Kori, and she knocked the poor Corsola out unexpectantly. Everyone gave Chu a rousing cheer and Ava sat down with Kori by the eggs to rest. Chu looked really happy and her fur sparked a little bit. Sadly, when Jonah called for another Thunder Punch in her next battle against Brent and Thrash, she didn't have it in her. Jonah picked her up and gave her a big smile and told her that he believed in her and knew she could do it.

He was right. By the end of the week Chu was Thunder Punching everything in her sights. The tiny little electric mouse packed a wallop too. She actually managed to bust a couple trees in half when she missed her target. Jonah had decided he was ready to challenge Fantina.

He gave his team the weekend to rest and said he would start facing down the Gym Trainers on Monday. He told how it was a suicide mission to take on all of the Trainers and the Leader in one day. That much battling was too much a strain on his team. He said most Gyms had between two and six Gym Trainers that you had to defeat before you were able to battle the Leader. In Fantina's case there were four. Ava, Brent, and I actually recognized two of them as professors at Hearthome U and begged Jonah to stomp them for making our lives difficult in college.

Jonah beat the first two Trainers on Monday and the next two on Tuesday. He told that there was no need to rush through the Gyms and get our Pokemon hurt, because too much all-out battling in a day could lead to long-term injury for our Pokemon. I couldn't believe how much I was learning from him. I was lucky to be getting that experience before leaving for my journey. Wednesday finally rolled around and Jonah challenged Fantina. Sadly, she already had two scheduled challenges that day and said Jonah's would have to wait until Thursday,

The day of the actual battle finally came. Brent, Ava, and I sat up in the stands in the front row. Tons of people from around town were there to watch as well as some fans of Fantina's dancing career, and the Gym Trainers. There was seemingly an endless amount of cameras around to film the match so it could be showed on the Gym Challenge Channel later in the day. We could see Jonah being interviewed by a woman on one side of the arena and Fantina on the other. When they finally finished the interviews and announced the battlers there were a few hundred people in the stands. The whole town must have known a local challenger was back in town. We were joined in the front row by Ava's brothers and Brent's and Jonah's mom, dad, and younger brother and sister.

The battle finally started by Fantina calling out her Mismagius and Jonah calling out Chimp. His Monferno moved across the battle field in a flash and managed to land a Flame Charge right off the bat. His move managed to hurt the Mismagius and make Chimp move even faster. Fantina was trying to call for a Curse on Chimp but her hat-laden ghost couldn't even see where Chimp was he was moving so fast. After a couple well placed Flame Charges the Mismagius was down.

One down, three to go. I knew Jonah was hesitant about using Thrash since most of his attacks would be useless against Ghost Types, so he was counting on Chimp to get through at least two of Fantina's Pokemon.

Fantina called out her Banette and ordered a Shadow Ball. Chimp's speed was too high. He was flying around the battlefield at unbelievable speeds thanks to his hard training and the added effects of Flame Charge. He managed to hit the Banette with a Flame Charge but when the fire monkey turned around to strike again, the marionette Pokemon was gone. Fantina had ordered it to use a Shadow Sneak. A great counter to Chimp's high speed. The ghostly Pokemon flew out of Chimp's shadow and knocked him backward before disappearing in its own shadow again. Jonah shouted something to Chimp and his starter began rolling in place using Flame Wheel. Jonah had told me this was Chimp's strongest move, but it was strange that he wasn't moving. Then the Banette burst out of Chimp's shadow and instead of landing another sneak attack, got blasted backward by the Flame Wheel. Chimp's attack was stronger than Banette's. Jonah took advantage of the weakened ghost and landed a direct hit with a second Flame Wheel to finish it off.

Two down, two to go. Jonah's strategy was obviously to outmaneuver the ghosts, but Chimp was looking tired. Jonah was right about too much all-out battling tiring a Pokemon out. Chimp had barely been touched but it looked like it had been taking a beating, and if I could see that, there was no way Fantina didn't.

I saw Jonah reach for a Pokeball but he changed his mind and grabbed something out of his pocket just as Fantina called out her Gengar. She called for a Shadow Ball as Jonah rolled his pocket-thing toward Chimp. The monkey Pokemon hurled the round object at the Gengar and absorbed the full blast of the Shadow Ball. Chimp was down, but the Gengar looked funny. Whatever the object Chimp threw was, it was sticking to the Gengar and it was clearly unhappy about it.

"He used Fling to throw an Iron Ball at the Gengar. Genius." I turned around and saw my dad behind me. He looked excited, like he hadn't seen this much action in a while. "Now, its Ability, Levitate, won't matter and Ground Type moves will hit and be extremely effective."

So Chimp had finally gone down, but managed to cripple the Gengar in the process. It was a really smart move by Jonah, but I didn't know if I could ever see myself sacrificing X to limit the abilities of the opponents Pokemon. I guess I would have to wait and see until I was in a high-stakes battle myself.

Jonah had just called out Kori when Brent screamed like a little girl. I looked over and saw his egg cracking at the top. Everyone was leaning over trying to get a look at what was hatching out, and I was trying to look back and forth between the battle and the baby. Brent was cooing at his new starter to fight its way out of the egg's shell and Jonah had sent Kori into the ground with a Dig after hitting the Gengar with a Water Pulse. Not only was the Gengar unable to float and was sluggish from the Iron Ball, but now it was spinning in circles like it didn't know what was going on. Kori burst out of the earth and finished off the Gengar with the second half of its Dig attack.

One to go. I looked back at Brent just in time to see a little, blue tail flipper pop out of the back of the egg. The look on his face was priceless, but I couldn't blame him. I turned back to the battle to see Jonah call out Chu. She clapped and gave a spark of happiness at being on the battlefield. He must have felt that keeping Kori for backup was the best idea, just in case Chu couldn't take down the Drifblim that Fantina had just released.

Jonah started by having Chu use Quick Attack to get in close to the Drifblim and then called for a Thunder Punch when the tiny mouse was in range. The Drifblim was faster than anyone expected and it floated by Chu while using an Ominous Wind to land solid damage. Chu wasn't the best at taking hits so Jonah must have known he would need to hit the Drifblim quickly. He had Chu reign down some Thundershocks on the big balloon, but they just weren't that powerful. Lucky for Jonah, one of them seemed to paralyze Fantina's final Pokemon. The Drifblim was noticeably slower but still managed to land a big time Air Cutter on Chu. She was struggling to get up and the ref looked ready to call her out when she started glowing. Chu came out of the bright light a Pikachu, and looked more determined than ever to finish the battle. Jonah went back to his original plan of Quick Attack followed by Thunder Punch now that the Drifblim was slower and Chu was even faster. She rocketed up to the ghost balloon and landed a direct hit, knocking out Fantina's final Pokemon.

I got up and cheered for Jonah and his team. They really had battled amazingly, and Chu evolved in such a clutch situation. I looked over at Brent to see a baby Spheal smiling up at him. He was standing up and cheering for his brother, and clearly using it as an excuse to cheer for himself too. Jonah was given the Relic badge at the center of the battlefield as cameras flashed on him and his team. He wasn't able to meet us outside until after another on-field interview and an interview on the field-side set of Battle Center. We all congratulated him for his victory and went back to the Howard home for a celebration meal.

Jonah announced that he would be staying until Ava, Brent, and I left and that he would accompany us to Oreburgh City since it was on his way to Canalave City for his next Gym Battle. I was happy to be able to learn more from him, and to have some help starting out on our journey. There were only two things left to be done before we could leave. Ava's egg and X had to hatch.


	4. Late Night Egg Hunt

Once the dust settled after Jonah's battle there was only a month before we were planning to leave. We kept training with Jonah every day. I couldn't help but notice that the training was less brutal and not as long. He said it was dangerous to push his Pokemon that hard all the time and that learning to balance the severity of your workouts was an important part of being a trainer.

The weeks rolled by rather uneventfully. My grandparents came from Twinleaf Town so they could see me off on my journey. That was a pleasant surprise. I hadn't really thought about how long it would be until I saw my family again. Jonah only saw his once, maybe twice, a year.

About two weeks before the New Year, Ava and I were waiting for Brent at the movie theatre. We saw a couple people we recognized from school. We must not have been the only ones who felt the need to see one last movie before they left. Just as we heard Brent give a shout hello Ava gave an excited squeal. I looked over to see her egg with a crack in it. A little dark red foot had kicked its way through the shell. Ava cheered her new starter on as it fought its way out of the egg while Bubbles clapped happily. After a couple minutes a tiny fox Pokemon with a single white tail sat in Ava's arms and yawned. Her Vulpix smiled up at her and Ava smiled back.

Needless to say we didn't see the movie. Bubbles would have been hard enough to keep quiet without adding another newborn. I couldn't help but wish X would crack open its egg for me, but Brent and Ava did have their eggs longer than I had. I stayed patient and kept up my routine for the time being. Ava brought Vulpix to the local Pokemon Center to make sure it was healthy and to find out its gender. The little fire fox ended up being a girl, and Ava named her Athena.

"Should've known you'd go with the Greek gods spin on things." Brent said when she told us her Vulpix's name.

"I like it. It's strong, but it's still pretty and feminine. It's nice to properly meet you Athena." I rubbed the little Pokemon tuft of hair on her head and smiled.

"I'm going to name all of my Pokemon after someone from Greek mythology, I like having a theme to my team." I went home that night feeling sad about X not having hatched yet, again. It put me in a dull mood most of the week.

It was Christmas Eve, and the last week before we were going to leave when I woke up in the middle of the night to find X's egg broken next to me. At first I panicked, thinking I must have laid on it and broken it in my sleep. Then I realized that X must have hatched and gone off exploring. I jumped up and threw on a shirt and ran into the hallway to see if I could find my Pokemon. The problem was I didn't know what kind of Pokemon X was and it left no trace as to where it went. I called for Pup, my dad's Growlithe, and had him smell a part of the egg to see if he could find X's scent. Pup gave a bark of approval and started heading down the hallway, sniffing as he went. We made it to the staircase when I started worrying X might have fallen down and hurt himself. Pup just kept sniffing and we went down the stairs and over to the front door to find a swinging doggy door. X must have been a pretty smart baby to have made it this far. Pup jumped through the doggy door and I opened up the door and followed after him. My dad's Growlithe starting barking toward the street where I could see a tiny figure waddling around in the streetlight. I ran toward it and caught up with it in no time. I looked down to see a tiny Pokemon staring up at me with big red eyes and a green fin on its head. There were little bumps where tusks would eventually grow on either side of its mouth and it had a stubby, little tail. X was an Axew. I couldn't believe it. A dragon. My parents had actually managed to get me a dragon. It was the best Christmas present I ever got.

Christmas was a lot of fun having X by my side. My grandparents actually got me a whole bunch of equipment for my journey. There were some items for healing status problems, cookware, an awesome sleeping bag, and the best assortment of Pokeballs I could imagine. I thanked my grandparents for their generosity, they single-handedly bought me most of the equipment I would need for my journey. My parents had gotten me an assortment of clothes that would be helpful on the journey. I had honestly not even thought about packing clothes, but luckily, my backpack had a pocket for that. They got me a few pairs of jeans, some jackets for different weather conditions, and a new pair of shoes for my journey.

I was ready to leave, and so were my friends. The only thing left to do was wait.

The rest of week went by quickly and it was finally time to leave. My parents, my grandparents, Ava, her mom and brothers, Athena, X, and myself were all waiting near the western exit of Hearthome City for Brent, Jonah, and their family. We finally spotted Jonah running up ahead, excited to get back on the road. "Brent had to go back home, he forgot something," he panted when he finally reached us.

We had to wait another half an hour or so until Brent came. A woman passed by us coming from the exit crying, I figured she must have just seen off her own child, and hoped my mom wouldn't cry. Brent finally showed up and he and his family could finally say their goodbyes. I looked up at my parents with X in my arms. His tusks had already started growing in the week since he'd hatched. "I guess this is goodbye."

"For now." my father answered with a smile. He shook my hand and turned it into a hug while Pup rubbed against my leg.

My mom didn't say anything but just smiled. She knew what I was getting into and she was excited for me, even if she was going to miss me. I gave her a hug and kissed her on the cheek and then thanked them both for everything. I said goodbye to my grandparents and then met up with Ava and we waited for Brent and Jonah. When they finally walked over to us we gave our families one final wave and turned our backs to them. We were finally starting out.

Brent, Ava, and I had our Pokemon in our arms and Jonah had let Chimp out to walk with us. Jonah told us that we shouldn't put our Pokemon in Pokeballs until they were fully grown. He said X's tusks would be sharp enough to defend himself, Athena's tail would have darkened and split a few times, and Bubbles would have a thick hide and able to blow bubbles when they were ready.

We made it out onto Route 208 and saw a looming Mt. Coronet ahead of us. We walked forward in silence for some time, unable to figure out exactly what to say. Jonah finally broke the ice when he noticed something from the tree line. "Do you hear crying?"

We ran over to where he pointed and, indeed, found someone crying. "Hey, are you alright?" Ava asked the hunched over the mystery person. The crying stopped and none other than Connor Hall turned around, eyes swollen behind his glasses.

"Hey, Connor. What's the matter?" I asked him as I helped him up. I couldn't help but think it was his mother that walked by us crying earlier.

"I'm not cut out for a journey. I don't think I'm even going to make it to Sandgem Town for my internship." He looked to be on the verge of crying again.

I picked up Connor's bag and found that he had one Pokeball and basically nothing else useful. He had food for maybe a couple of days and some books. I grabbed the Pokeball and threw it at the ground. Xavier the Caterpie came crawling out of the light and made its way for Connor. It crawled up his leg, then arm and took a place on his shoulder. "Look at Xavier. Doesn't he look happy? You're a great trainer. You care about Pokemon and you want to make a difference. Don't let a little road trip ruin your spirits and stop you from fulfilling your dreams."

Connor gave a little smile and simply said "Do you think I could tag along with you guys for a bit? Safety in numbers right?" We all agreed it was a good idea and let Connor come along, it's not like we wanted him to die of starvation.

So with our ragtag group and our Pokemon we finally started making some progress toward Mt. Coronet, which we would have to pass through to get to Oreburgh City, where the first Gym on the circuit was. Connor still seemed absolutely terrified and was jumping at every noise nature made. Jonah leaned over to me and said "We need to do something to get his confidence up. I was thinking we could help him catch a Pokemon. Keep your eyes peeled for a Grass Type so his Caterpie has the advantage."

I relayed the news to Brent and Ava and we kept a lookout for a grass type. Unfortunately the outskirts of Mt. Coronet weren't a hot spot for Grass Types. We saw some Fighting Type Pokemon and a ton of Bidoof. Jonah was considering just trying to catch one of the Bidoof when Ava shot a hand toward to forest. We ran in the direction she pointed and Connor followed us, confused. Sure enough, sitting all by itself on the outskirts of the forest, was a Tangela. Jonah stopped us far enough away that we wouldn't spook the wild Pokemon. "Connor, are you and Xavier ready to battle?"

"What? Battle? I've never done that." Connor said stupidly.

"It's not that hard. Just send Xavier out there and let's see you catch that Tangela."

Xavier leapt off of Connor's shoulder without an order and prepared itself to take on the Tangela. Connor just stared at his Caterpie with a dumbfound look on his face.

"Tell Xavier to attack." Brent told Connor.

"I-I don't know w-what attacks he knows." Connor seemed close to tears again. I was worried the plan to boost his confidence would backfire.

"Well, he's a Caterpie. So he's going to know Tackle and String Shot, and if he's strong enough he might know Bug Bite." Jonah told Connor.

"O-okay. Xavier, String Shot." Connor stammered. His Caterpie followed orders and shot a sticky string right at the Tangela. It connected with the wild Pokemon's back and managed to get its attention. The Tangela fired some vines back at the Caterpie and they both had each other in extended grasps. Connor hesitated to call for a move and the Tangela shook its body vigorously and purple dust came out of its clump of vines. The Poison Powder made its way to Xavier and infected him. He immediately looked slower and weaker and it got worse when the Tangela's vines that were wrapped around Xavier started to glow green and suck out its energy.

"That's absorb. Connor you have to tell Xavier to do something." Jonah pleaded.

Connor panicked and squeaked "Bug Bite!" Xavier bit down on the vine that was wrapped around him and the Tangela pulled its vines back in pain. The Caterpie hung on while he was pulled toward the Tangela and bit down again when he got closer. The Tangela fell backward and didn't seem to be able to move.

"Connor, throw a Pokeball!" Ava yelled.

"I-I don't have one." I reached into my bag and handed him a Pokeball. He threw the ball at the Tangela and watched as it shook three times and then gave a ding. He had done it, somehow. Connor marched over to the Pokeball on the ground and picked it up. He stared at it blankly, almost like he didn't believe what just happened. He picked Xavier up and placed him on his shoulder while walking back toward us. I already had an Antidote out for the poor Caterpie. The poison was still weakening him. Caterpie drank the Antidote and gave what could only be described as a smile. Connor thanked me and then tried to hand me the Pokeball. "Here, Chuck."

"That's yours, Connor. You and Xavier did a great job together catching it. Tangela is your newest partner."

"But, it's your Pokeball."

I pushed his hand away and gave him a thumbs up. "It doesn't matter whose Pokeball it is. You earned Tangela. You and Xavier together. You guys are totally ready to take on Sinnoh."

He gave a huge smile and tucked the ball into his pocket. "Thanks, that really means a lot."

With Connor feeling better about himself we felt more comfortable making our way down the path. With the delays we didn't get as far as we would have liked but still managed to find a safe spot to set up camp for the night. X and I laid by the fire under my sleeping bag and looked at the night sky. It was the most beautiful thing I think I had ever seen.


	5. My First Battle

We had been on the road for around two weeks and Mt. Coronet was getting pretty close. We were more than halfway there. Most of the trainers we had passed by seemed too tired to try to battle, but some would challenge us. Jonah would explain to them that our Pokemon were newly hatched and couldn't battle yet. The stubborn ones wouldn't leave us alone without some kind of challenge, so Jonah would wipe the floor with them. We were making great progress. Bubbles had started blowing bubbles, which very quickly turned into the ability to use Water Gun, so Brent was letting him battle wild Pokemon, but mostly only Geodude. Athena's tail was now split in four and was a reddish-orange color. She and Ava would try to take out any Bug Types that got in our way. X's tusks were pretty sharp and I was asking Jonah for the go-ahead every morning to start training him with everyone else. I could see how much stronger Bubbles and Athena were getting, and how much Brent and Ava were enjoying themselves battling with them. Even Connor would battle with Xavier and Bernard (he had finally named his Tangela). The jealousy monster was starting to eat at my insides again.

I got up particularly early one morning and started down the road with X. I wanted to stretch my legs out, and maybe sneak in a battle with a wild Pokemon. A ways down the path we heard a rustling in the bushes and X leapt out of my arms, ready to battle. My adrenaline immediately started to pump. This would be my first battle with X. Unexpectedly, a trainer jumped out of the bushes with a Pokeball in hand and a Graveler behind him.

"I challenge you, kid!" the trainer yelled. He seemed older than Jonah, with long dark hair and battered clothes. He looked experienced and that scared me. X growled at the trainer, ready to battle, but I knew this was a battle I shouldn't get myself, or X, into.

"I can't battle you." I told the trainer.

"Why not? Your Pokemon looks ready to go." He wasn't lying, X was staring daggers at the trainer.

"X is a newborn, he's not quite ready for battle yet." I told the stranger as I scooped X off the ground. He struggled to get out of my grasp, but I wasn't going to let him get beat on by whatever Pokemon this older trainer had.

"Nonsense! That Axew is ready to go! So let's see if it can handle Pearl, my Cloyster!" the stranger threw his Pokeball and a giant shell with a spike came out. The shell opened up menacingly to show a face hidden in its depths. "Unless you have another Pokemon you can use."

I didn't know what to do. It was common courtesy to battle a trainer that challenged you, and it was the best way to train your Pokemon. But, I didn't want X to get clobbered by an Ice Type in his first battle. I didn't even know if X was ready to battle. Before I could run for it to try to get Jonah to battle him X managed to jump out of my arms again. The tiny dragon's hands were glowing in what I recognized as Dual Chop, a weak Dragon attack. I guess X could battle.

His attack landed, but not until the Cloyster closed it shell. X didn't give up though, he just kept chopping at the bivalve Pokemon. I had to keep him calm, I couldn't let him waste all of his energy attacking the Cloyster's shell if we had any chance at beating it. "X, stop! You're never gonna do any damage to that things shell. Take a step back and let's see what move it makes." X obeyed, which made me happy, and jumped away from the closed shell. We both watched intently waiting for it to open up. "Get ready to dodge an attack."

"Finish it up Pearl." The trainer commanded his Cloyster. Faster than I could register, the Cloyster's shell opened and it fired an Ice Beam at my Axew. It hit X right in the face, he was done. I ran over to X and picked him up in my arms. I felt terrible, there was nothing I could have done to help him. We had lost our first battle. In one hit.

Then I saw Ava and Brent running toward me, Bubbles and Athena in their arms. "Chuck, are you okay?" they asked when they got to me. They saw X in my arms and looked at the trainer and his Cloyster. They immediately knew what happened.

"You two. Have a double battle with me." the trainer challenged Brent and Ava.

"Fine, Bubbles, let's go!" Brent stupidly agreed to battle this trainer who was clearly much stronger than us, and possibly even Jonah. He did have two evolved Pokemon that I saw so far. "Come on Ava, send out Athena."

"Fine, but this is stupid. We shouldn't be battling this guy, he's clearly an experienced trainer." Ava, even-keeled as ever, let Athena jump from her arms.

The trainer had another Pokeball out "Get in there Flint, and come on out, Jingle!" his Graveler ran passed him and braced for battle and a strange looking creature with ears that looked like speakers came out of the Pokeball. Connor had just showed up and told us the speaker-eared Pokemon was a Loudred. Make that three evolved Pokemon.

Brent started the battle out, "Bubbles, Water Gun at Graveler!" his round seal Pokemon released a jet of water at the armed rock, but the Loudred jumped in the way. Ava tried her luck next, "Athena, Ember on Loudred!" her small fox Pokemon shot small spurts of fire at the Loudred, but the Graveler shot them out of the sky with a Mud Sport.

"Now it's my turn." The mystery trainer had that same smug look on his face as when he beat X in one hit. Flint, use Rock Throw on the on the Vulpix, and Jingle, use Thunder Punch on the Spheal." His Pokemon obeyed his commands and landed their attacks before Brent and Ava could do anything. Their Pokemon were knocked out. "You're next, nerd." The ruthless stranger had turned his attention toward Connor.

Connor looked scared but he grabbed a Pokeball out of his pocket. "Go, Bernard!" his Tangela came out of the Pokeball and readied for battle.

"In that case, come out, Fang!" the trainer sent out what I recognized as a Mightyena.

"Connor, you don't have to battle this guy. He's obviously got a lot of experience, you're putting your Pokemon at risk!"

"It's okay Chuck, we're not afraid of losing, it will help us grow closer and learn."

Connor, unlike the rest of us, waited for the Mightyena to attack, which was a mistake. "Use Fire Fang!" the Mightyena's jaw was laced in flames and it bit down on Bernard. He was knocked out.

"See what you can do, Xavier, use String Shot!" Connor threw Xavier's Pokeball into the battle field and the tiny worm came out firing its sticky string at the menacing dog. The Mightyena simply caught the String Shot in its jaws and pulled. Xavier was pulled into the air toward the Mightyena. He released the string and flew through the air. The Mightyena positioned itself under Xavier and leapt at the poor bug Pokemon and bit down with a Fire Fang. Out in one hit, again, just like the rest of us.

"What's going on, you guys?" Jonah had showed up. He looked worried, like he had been looking for us.

"Another weakling for me to beat up on? Oh, goody." The stranger walked up to Jonah with another Pokeball in his hand. "I just whooped all your little buddies, now it's your turn."

Jonah looked at all of us, with our fainted Pokemon in our arms. Then he looked at the strangers Pokemon standing behind him. All four of them evolved, and happy to battle anyone their master asked. "You think it's cool to beat up on brand new trainers? All four of them just left on their journey a couple weeks ago. Most of their Pokemon are recently hatched. You were the first trainer any of them have battled. What kind of trainer are you?" Jonah looked furious.

"The name's Rick and I'm a great trainer. I'm on my way to Sunyshore to battle Marlon for my last badge." He held up a badge case confirming what he said to be true, he had seven badges inside. Jonah grabbed his own badge case and showed him his five badges. "I've only got five badges, but that won't stop me from teaching you a lesson on how to treat fellow trainers. Especially, new ones." Jonah had grabbed a Pokeball from his belt and stared daggers at Rick. "How's two on two sound?"

"Fine by me, come on out Buck!" a Pinsir came out of Rick's Pokeball and snapped its pincers together.

"Chimp, let's teach this guy a lesson." Jonah sent out his Monferno. "Chimp, Flame Charge!" he started the battle quickly. Chimp charged at the Pinsir, covered in flames. Chimp landed a direct hit, but the Pinsir managed to get up. Jonah looked surprised, "Turn it up to a Flame Wheel!" he used the strongest move I knew of in Chimp's arsenal, the fire monkey spun quickly creating a wheel of fire and launched itself at the Pinsir.

"Use Protect!" Rick had called the order just in time because his Pinsir threw a shield up in front of itself just before Chimp would have taken it out. "Now, use Dig!" the Pinsir abandoned its shield and burrowed its way underground.

"Stay on your toes, Chimp!" Jonah and Chimp were both looking around to see where the Pinsir would come up.

"Now!" Rick's Pinsir came flying out of the ground and knocked Chimp across the battlefield. "Follow it with Brick Break!" the Pinsir ran toward Chimp, claws preparing to strike down.

"Counter with Fire Punch!" Chimp leapt to his feet and threw a burning fist toward the Pinsir. Their attacks collided and both Pokemon fell back. Chimp got up slowly, but the Pinsir was done. The fire attacks were too much. I was still surprised the Pinsir took a direct hit from Flame Charge, Rick was clearly a strong trainer.

"Try out Brawly for size!" he sent out what I recognized as a Hariyama. The big Fighting Type loomed over a weakened Chimp.

"Chimp, can you keep fighting?" the Monferno gave a quick nod and stared down the Hariyama. "Then go ahead and use Flame Wheel!"

Chimp spun toward the Hariyama and it took the attack right in the gut "Vital Throw!" the Hariyama grabbed Chimp before he could roll away and launched him across the battlefield and into a tree. The tree snapped in half and Chimp passed out.

"Chimp, return." Jonah recalled his starter and grimaced as he grabbed another Pokeball. "Well, if it's a fight you want, then come on out Thrash!" Jonah's Mankey came out looking ferocious. "Use Karate Chop!" the fighting monkey leapt at the Hariyama and chopped down on its head.

The hit seemed to daze the Hariyama some, but it retaliated with a Vital Throw again. Thrash flew through the air, but managed to land on his feet safely. "Follow it with Body Slam!" the Hariyama jumped into the air and stretched out its body.

"Thrash, dodge it!" the Mankey rolled out of the way of the massive Pokemon and prepared for the next attack. "Use Swagger." Thrash puffed out his cheeks and taunted his opponent. The Hariyama looked furious and charged after Thrash, who simply side-stepped the attack, and the arm thrust Pokemon ran into a tree and hurt itself.

Rick looked furious, "Would you stop that Brawly! Calm down and focus on the Mankey!" his Pokemon seemed to hear him and managed to stare down Thrash without charging furiously. "Now use Force Palm!" the Hariyama smacked Thrash with a powerful strike. "Follow with Arm Thrust!" Brawly started beating on Thrash so he couldn't get up. It was starting to look bad. I was worried Jonah was going to lose the battle. Just when all hope seemed lost Thrash started to glow just like Chu did during the Gym Battle. The Hariyama stepped back in confusion and watched as Jonah's Mankey evolved into a Primape.

The newly evolved Pokemon looked pissed. "Thrash, great job! Let's see if you can use a Cross Chop now!" Jonah had guessed his Pokemon's newest move correctly. Thrash jumped at the Hariyama, screaming, and used both arms to karate chop his opponent. The Hariyama collapsed while Thrash danced around its body, pleased with his victory.

Jonah returned his newly evolved Primape and walked over to Rick. "I don't wanna see you messing with new trainers anymore. It's our job as experienced trainers to guide newbies, and to help them. That's why I'm helping my brother and his friends get to Oreburgh, because if I didn't have help from an older trainer when I started out, I probably would have quit after a week. I know it's the same for you too."

"I don't have to do anything you tell me. I've still got four Pokemon ready to battle if that's what you want!"

"No. Why don't we just go our separate ways and call it even. One day you'll understand."

With the battle over and Jonah unable to stop Rick from his bullying ways, we set off down the path. Ava, Brent, Connor, and I had to keep our Pokemon in Pokeballs so they would have some time to recover from fainting. Jonah let out Thrash, Kori, and Chu to fend off wild Pokemon. Once again we didn't get as far as we would have liked but I didn't care. X was ready to battle and I couldn't wait to start training with him.


	6. The Coronet Capture Contest

**Thank you guys all so much for reading! And a special shout out to corinne444 for basically dominating the reviews (check out her stories they're great!) I also wanted to ask if you guys could it would be a great help if you could tell me any Pokemon nicknames you have. i need them for any Pokemon and all I'm asking for is ideas! Just put them in a review or PM if you'd rather do that, but the help would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy the story!**

The Coronet Capture Contest

Finally! I stopped in my tracks and stared at the mountain in front of me. We made it to Mt. Coronet. It took us three weeks, but we made it. We decided to stop here for the rest of the day and sleep outside the mountain tonight. We figured we would try to get as far through the mountain path as we could first thing in the morning. It was around noon so we had a lot of time to kill, which was weird. Brent and Connor had set up a campsite and we were basically sitting around doing nothing. We had already had lunch and gone through our morning training session. Jonah was the one who finally came up with an idea to kill the rest of the day. "I think you guys are ready to catch a Pokemon."

"You know it!" Brent was smiling ear to ear.

"How about we make a game out of it? We'll all leave at the same time to wherever we want to go. We have any terrain you need in the direct area. The river runs to a lake to the south, there's forest all around us, and we have the mountain. You can go wherever you want, but you have to be back by sunset for dinner. Go and catch a Pokemon and when we get back we'll vote for the best. I'll leave Chimp, Thrash, and Chu to protect camp. Maybe Xavier can stay too, Connor?" Connor agreed. "Do you guys have everything you need? Pokeballs, healing items just in case?" We all let him know we were ready, he had to give Connor some Pokeballs and healing items, but the rest of us had our own things. We all loved the idea and were really excited about catching a Pokemon. I couldn't decide where I wanted to go. I could go down by the lake and try for a Water Type or the mountain for a Rock, Ground, or even a Fire Type, or any number of possibilities in the forest.

"Is everyone ready?" Jonah gave us one last look and then shouted "Go!" he surprised me by taking off toward the entrance to the cave.

"Jonah, you're gonna catch a Pokemon too?"

"Absolutely! I still need two more for a full team, don't I?"

I looked to see where everyone was going. Connor followed Jonah into the cave with Bernard trailing behind him. Ava grabbed her fishing pole and ran toward the lake. Brent ran back into the forest from the direction we came. I figured no one else went north so I went that way toward the forest.

Connor

Everyone probably thought I only ran into the cave because Jonah did, but that's not true. I figured since Bernard is a Grass Type he'll have the advantage over most Pokemon in the mountain. At the first fork in the path Jonah went left, so I went right.

I wasn't going to be picky about which Pokemon I caught. After all, I didn't ask for Bernard and we were getting along great, and I wasn't too worried about winning the competition. It's not like I was training to beat Gym Leaders or anything. I didn't need an especially powerful team, just a team I could trust and get along with.

We ventured down the path for about ten minutes and saw nothing but a colony of Zubat. We had to sneak around them considering Bernard's unfortunate double-disadvantage to their Flying and Poison Types. After another few minutes I found what we were looking for, a Pokemon with a disadvantage to a Grass Type. A group of Diglett.

There were five of them. They were all so tiny and weak looking, but I knew I couldn't let my guard down. I looked toward my Tangela with a plan "Bernard, do you think you can put them to sleep?" Bernard made a motion that could only be described as a nod and shook his vines. The blue powder traveled through the air and reached the first Diglett. It was asleep immediately, and then the next two were also asleep. Before I could make a move for a Pokeball to catch one of them they were pulled underground. The other two Diglett had dug away from the Sleep Powder and brought their friends underground to escape me. One of the two Diglett remaining popped back up out of the ground and slapped mud at Bernard. Bernard got mad and shook out a Poison Powder. It traveled through the air toward the Diglett, but it was gone. Out of nowhere it burst out of the ground under Bernard and sent him flying. The battle was on.

The Diglett immediately burrowed underground again. "Bernard, send a Vine Whip into the hole and follow that Diglett." Bernard did as I said and sent a vine into the hole. He gave an excited jump and pulled the Diglett out of the hole and lifted it into the air to reveal four stubby little claws failing around. "Now use Bind to keep a tight hold on it!" Bernard sent another vine around the Diglett and squeezed so it couldn't escape. "Weaken it with Absorb!" Bernard's vines started glowing as it sapped health from the mole Pokemon.

"Now put it to sleep." Bernard shook the powder from his vines and put the Diglett to sleep and dropped it to the ground. I grabbed one of the Pokeballs Jonah gave me and threw it at the Diglett. Three quick shakes and a delightful ding later and I had a new Pokemon.

I made my way back through the cave and to camp to find I was the first one back. I released my new Diglett, who I had decided to name Dexter, and spent time with my three Pokemon.

Chuck

It didn't take that long to get into the thick of the forest. And a bunch of Pokemon, all of which ran away when they saw me coming. Eventually I ran into a flock of Starly. Perfect, a Pokemon that wasn't running away. I just had to find a way to single one out. I ran out into the clearing and the flock scattered, so much for not running away. Only one Starly was left. It flew right at X with its wing outstretched. "X, look out!" my Axew was one step ahead of me, jumping out of the way and getting ready to attack. "Dual Chop" X ran at the Starly with his arms outstretched, but the Starly just flew up into the air. "X, we need to attack from a distance. Getting in close isn't going to work." X nodded his head and looked around. He ran over and picked a pebble off the ground and threw it at the bird. It hit, but only managed to annoy the Starly. It charged X again, this time at an insane speed that X couldn't avoid. He fell backwards with a furious look on his face. The look turned into an attack. X breathed out a ferocious purplish flame that hit the Starly and knocked it out of the sky. "X, you learned Dragon Rage! Great job!" I grabbed a Pokeball and threw it at the Starly. When it was captured I ran over and picked it up. I smiled I my new Pokemon. A Flying Type. Now I could roam the skies in battle as well as use X's natural power as a dragon. I decided to name my Starly Super. When I got back to camp I found Connor waiting for me with a newly captured Diglett and Jonah's Pokemon all waiting patiently.

Brent

I ran down the path with Bubbles in my arms. He wasn't very good at running, he mostly liked to roll everywhere. I had seen a giant tree on our way to the mountain and I knew if I went there I could probably find a strong Pokemon.

It took a little bit but I found the tree, and sure enough, some Pokemon. There was a Bibarel lying in the shade, a Weepinbell watching over two young Bellsprout, and an angry looking Machoke was shouting at all of them. The Weepinbell ushered the young Bellsprout away from the Machoke and gave it an angry glare. The Bibarel stood bravely next to the Grass Pokemon. The Machoke kept yelling angrily and charged after the pair of Pokemon. The Bibarel shot a blast of water and the Weepinbell fired a pair of vines at the charging Pokemon. The Machoke ducked under the water attack and grabbed the Weepinbell's Vine Whip. The Superpower Pokemon used the vines against its opponents, throwing the Weepinbell into the Bibarel. Then, with one sweep of its massive arms it knocked out the Bibarel. By the time it turned for the Weepinbell it was gone. This was bad news for me and Bubbles.

I was so mesmerized by the battle that I forgot it was dangerous. The Machoke turned toward me and all I could muster was a whimper. The wild Pokemon started charging me. I held Bubbles tight, closed my eyes, and braced for the attack, there was nothing I could do.

The attack never came though. I looked back up and saw another Pokemon grappling with the Machoke. It was a dark blue color and had a giant horn on its head. It was a Heracross.

The two Pokemon were in a stalemate, neither giving an inch. I watched in amazement as the two Pokemon through powerful punches and lunged after one another. It seemed Heracross had the upper hand because of its speed, until the Machoke landed an uppercut and knocked the Heracross off balance.

I had to do something. That Heracross saved me and Bubbles from getting pummeled. "Bubbles, help out Heracross by using Water Gun on Machoke!" Bubbles leapt out of my arms obediently and sent a jet of water at the muscular Pokemon. The Machoke stumbled and gave Bubbles a furious look, but that was all the Heracross needed. The Bug Pokemon flew into the sky and roared down at an insane speed. Aerial Ace. It landed the attack right in the Machoke's gut and knocked it out. The Machoke collapsed and the Heracross bent over, exhausted from the battle.

I ran over to the Bug Type Pokemon to see if I could help, but it pushed me away. It stared at Bubbles and growled. Bubbles growled back. He looked up at me as if pleading to battle. "Bubbles, it wouldn't be fair to battle this Heracross. It's hurt." The Heracross growled louder at my statement and stepped toward Bubbles. "Alright, let's do this then. Bubbles Water Gun!" my Spheal blasted a jet of water at the Heracross and hit it in the face. The Heracross retaliated with a Fury Attack, lunging it's horn at Bubbles, who simply rolled out of the way. The Heracross was clearly slower from its battle with the Machoke. "Bubbles, finish it off with Powder Snow!" Bubbles shot some snowballs from his mouth and hit the Heracross. It knelt down, clearly too weak to keep battling, but too stubborn to give up, I liked that. I grabbed a Great Ball out of my bag, I thought it'd be a pretty tough catch, and tossed it at the Heracross. The ball wiggled three times, gave a ding, and Heracross, no Juggernaut, was mine.

We made it back to camp not too long after to find Connor with Diglett, and Chuck with a Starly. I was totally winning.

Ava

I knew this was going to be a challenge. I wanted a Water Type and the only Pokemon I had to battle it was Athena. As great as she was, she was a Fire Type. I knew exactly what Pokemon I wanted though, a Feebas. One day the little fish would evolve into a beautiful and powerful Milotic.

I could see the lake that Jonah mentioned was not too far down the path. I had my fishing pole on my shoulder and Athena was strolling beside me. I couldn't believe how beautiful she had already gotten. Her tail was a dark reddish color now and split into five with gorgeous curls at the end. She walked tall and showed off her tail as we made our way down the path.

We were on the lake's edge in no time. I laid down a blanket for us to sit and wait as I cast out my line. I fished for what felt like hours, reeling in an indescribable amount of Magikarp, and even a few Goldeen before a got a Feebas.

When I pulled out the little fish I dragged it onto shore "Athena, Tail Whip," my Vulpix slapped the Feebas with its tail to lower its defenses. The Feebas countered with a blast of silvery purple, Dragon Pulse. I wasn't expecting that. It hit Athena dead on, but at least it wasn't a Water Type attack. "Athena Quick Attack, and don't stop. Use the speed as your advantage!" Athena did as I told her and ran around using Quick Attack confusing the Feebas. She hit it a few times, weakening it a lot. Unlucky for us, the Feebas unleashed a Brine. Athena dodged it, using Quick Attack defensively. "Try to finish it off, Athena!" My starter ran right at the Feebas diving past another Brine to land one final Quick Attack before a caught the Feebas in a Pokeball. I decided to name her Thalassa, after the Spirit of the Sea. By the time I got back to camp only Jonah hadn't come back.

Jonah

I had heard rumors of a certain Pokemon being in these caves around this time. I came up with the idea of the contest so I could have the whole day alone to track it down. The Pokemon was Gible. It would make a great addition to my team, adding Dragon and Ground to my team's arsenal.

After what seemed like hours I found a track. I followed it for what felt like a couple more hours when I found the Gible asleep. I released Kori, but even that noise woke up the Gible, and it bolted. I chased it down with Kori at my heels, she wasn't the fastest Pokemon, but she did her best, and that was all I could ask for. I followed the Gible through tons of different tunnels of different sizes, I knew I was deep inside the cave.

Eventually we came out into a room with only one exit, and I was standing in front of it. "Kori, Water Pulse!" Kori blasted the Gible and did some solid damage. I was hoping to confuse it, but no luck. The Gible retaliated with a Slash that didn't do much thanks to Kori's rocky skin. That's when I had Kori whip out our secret weapon for this battle. "Kori, Icy Wind!" my Corsola blew a freezing wind at the Gible and knocked it out. The Ice attack was too much for the Gible to handle.

I captured the Gible in a Dusk Ball for good measure and named it Geno. Since I was so deep in the cave I didn't know which way was out, so I had Kori Dig her way to the exit and I followed through the skinny tunnel. It wasn't comfortable, but it worked. The sun had already set by the time I made it back to camp to see four smiling newbies with their new Pokemon. It made me proud to be their mentor.


	7. The Cave Thief

Chapter Seven: The Cave Thief

We had been on the road for a about a month, which meant we'd been in this awful cave for a week. A week since I'd caught Super. A week since I'd seen the sun, grass, felt the wind. Needless to say, I hated crossing through Mt. Coronet to get to Oreburgh City. There was one bright side though, we were all getting in a lot of training. X was automatic with his Dragon Rage now, and Super and I were building up a good partnership. I couldn't wait until I could battle with him and there was more room for him to fly.

Brent's new Heracross, Juggernaut, was a complete powerhouse. He was having a great time smashing through all of the Rock Types in the cave with Juggernaut's pure strength. Not to mention Bubbles. The cute ball of blue got nasty during battles, using its combination of water and ice to be the bane of cave Pokemon's existences.

Ava's Feebas, Thalassa, Lassy, for short, was clearly a special Feebas, it knew Dragon Pulse and Brine. Jonah guessed that it was specially bred, and for some reason abandoned. Lucky for Lassy, she found Ava and Athena, a great team to be a part of.

While Connor wasn't one for fighting all that much he was having a great time with his Pokemon. They were busy collecting soil samples and different rocks for him to look at. It seemed boring to me, but he, Xavier, Bernard, and Dexter seemed to love it.

Jonah was still our fearless leader, showing us the ropes. I honestly don't know what we would have done if he wasn't there to teach us. He knew all the best places to set camp, what to eat, when to train and how hard. His team was strong too. Chimp was the strongest Pokemon I had the chance to meet on my journey so far, so to me he was invincible, while Kori, Thrash, and the newest member Geno, weren't far behind his starters example.

The cave was heavily travelled since it was the easiest way to get from Oreburgh to Hearthome, so the path was lit and there were designated camp sites for trainers. Most nights we were the only ones in the camping area for the night, but some nights we would meet someone coming from Oreburgh. On the opposite side of the sites were branching paths that went deeper into the caves where people could go to explore or catch Pokemon, but they were dangerous.

We were sitting around a fire eating on our last night in the cave when someone in a dark hoodie ran by and grabbed Brent's bag. The thief took off into one of the paths that went deeper into the cave. Brent was hot on the hooded thief's heels, and his Pokemon were right behind him. The rest of us grabbed our bags and chased after Brent, except Connor, under Jonah's orders.

It took no time at all for the cave to turn pitch black. "X, are you alright?" I got an "Axew" for a reply. I aimed X's Pokeball in the direction of the voice and did the same with Super. I didn't want them to get lost in this darkness. Ava did the same, but Jonah returned all of his Pokemon but Chu, who luckily knew Flash.

The light the Pikachu was emitting was dim, but we could see. We followed the path, but it was slowly becoming less of a path. The ceiling was getting higher and the walls were getting farther apart until we were in a huge cavern with more paths leaving in every direction. "Chu, do you hear Brent?" Jonah asked his Pokemon. She listened intently for a moment before solemnly shaking her head.

Brent

I chased the hooded thief through the pitch black path, into a giant cavern, and down a one of the hundreds of tunnels that left the cavern. I had returned Bubbles a while ago because he couldn't keep up, but Juggernaut was flying beside me. The thief clearly knew these tunnels, they were moving fast, not stopping to think. I had to get my bag, it had all of my gear, my Pokeballs, and my camera that had all of the pictures of our journey so far.

I started running even faster in what seemed to be a straightaway, it was hard to tell in the darkness. I caught up to the thief and wrapped my arms around them. "Give me my bag back!"

"I don't have your bag," it was a girl's voice. "I stashed it in a special hiding spot while you chased me, you're fast, not many people can keep up with me in here."

She seemed genuinely impressed, but I was not. "I need that bag! There's important stuff in it!"

"Alright, since you caught me, I'll bring you to where I stashed it, kind of like a reward." her voice was rough, like she hadn't used it in a while. I still hadn't properly seen her because of the darkness, and I didn't like that I couldn't see her face when she said this.

"Thank you," I said. I did not let her go, but had her lead the way with her hoodie in my grasp so that she wouldn't take off running again. "How do you know your way around here so well anyway?" I couldn't help but be curious.

"I live in these caves. I have for about a year now."

"Why?"

"So no one finds me."

"Is someone looking for you?"

"A lot of people are looking for me, people from my home village. They want to sacrifice me to Giratina."

"What? Why would they do that?"

"There's an old legend in our village about a human that wronged Giratina. Giratina demanded the human sacrifice herself to it or it would destroy the world with its dimensional powers. I apparently look like the chick that was stupid enough to cross a legendary Pokemon, and my crazy home town has a tradition of sacrificing someone to Giratina every hundred years, so I decided I would run away and hide until the year was over so no one killed me."

"Wow, so how much longer do you need to stay in here?"

"I don't know, what day is it?

"It's early February, I don't know the exact date."

"What! I could have left this cave a month ago? Damnit!" she stopped walking and turned to me, which was useless since I couldn't see her. "I've been stealing from trainers for about a month because I ran out of supplies, and I've felt terrible about it. I just ran out of supplies for me and Vesper."

"Who's Vesper?"

"He's my Umbreon."

"So you're a trainer?"

"Not technically. I would have graduated from Pastoria U, if I could have gone back to school, this year. I befriended Vesper while I was on the run, he saved my life from some particularly crazy villagers."

"What's your name?"

"Jade Hawk."

"I've heard of you! You were the top student at Pastoria U, on track to be a placer this year." I couldn't believe that someone who was considered a rising star of training in Sinnoh had to lose it all because of the town she grew up in.

"Yep. And if what your saying is true, I can leave this mountain and go back to school. If I hurry I can make it back before the start of the semester."

"Yeah, I guess that's true. If you help me get back to my friends I'm sure they would be happy to help you out." I couldn't help but feel bad for her. The whole stolen bag thing didn't seem like that big of a deal anymore.

"Lucky for you, I'm hungry and you have food otherwise I'd just get out of here on my own. But I'll take you up on your offer. Here's where I stashed the bag," she reached into what looked like a wall in the darkness and pulled my bag out and handed it to me. I got out some berries and gave her some and she started to lead the way back to the lit path.

Chuck

We stood in the cavern for what seemed like hours unable to make a decision. Not only could we not see past the dim light Chu was producing, but we didn't hear a thing, it was like nothing lived in the cavern. At one point I almost decided to choose a tunnel and run through it hoping to find Brent, but I knew that was stupid.

We got excited when Chu wiggled her ears to show us that she heard something. She pointed to a tunnel to our right and we moved closer as a group. When we were close enough that Chu's Flash lit up the entrance to the tunnel we waited with baited breath that Brent would come out of the tunnel. But it wasn't Brent, it wasn't even human. A four legged Pokemon with pitch black fur a golden ring patterns on its legs, forehead, ears, and tail walked out of the tunnel. The rings glowed brilliantly in the light and the Umbreon sniffed the air.

And then it was like it wasn't there.

"Did I imagine that Umbreon?" I wondered out loud.

"No, I saw it," Ava piped, she was clearly scared.

Jonah already had his hand on a Pokeball when he was knocked to the ground. The ball rolled into the shadows and burst open to reveal Chimp. The Monferno looked down at his trainer on the ground and let out a screech. The Umbreon had Jonah pinned to the ground and was snapping at him. Jonah was fighting the Pokemon off as best he could, but he wouldn't last long. Chimp unleashed a Flame Charge and rammed the Umbreon off of Jonah's chest. The Umbreon dipped into the shadows once more, its golden rings stopped glowing once out of Flash's range. We all looked around us, terrified of where it would strike next.

"Come out of the shadows!" Jonah screamed, and Chimp gave a yell to match.

Then Ava was pulled into the darkness with a scream. Chimp was the first to react using flames to speed up his movements. Chu followed suit to light up wherever Chimp went. Jonah and I followed the light and found Ava scared but unhurt against the wall of the cave.

"It tried to get into my bag, but then Chimp scared it away," she managed to say shakily.

We looked up to find Chimp and the Umbreon dancing in and out of the light Chu was creating violently attacking one another. A Mach Punch then a Bite and a Flame Charge and Faint Attack. It was terrifying, but so mesmerizing to see. Then the Umbreon was gone again, Chimp had lost it. Chu scurried around to try to shed her light on it, but it disappeared into the shadows again.

Then I felt a pull on the back of my belt and I was dragged quickly across the room. I meant to scream, but I don't know if it came out. The Umbreon had me pinned to the ground and it was trying to bite me. I was fighting it off as best I could but I knew I couldn't fight it for long. I considered trying to reach for X's Pokeball but that would leave me vulnerable to attack. I had to fight as hard as I could and hope Chimp saved me like he did Jonah. But I didn't have high hopes.

Then an unfamiliar, hoarse, female voice shouted "Vesper, stop it! I have food for you!"

Brent

I ran over to my best friend. He was about to be mauled by a starving Umbreon. This was going to make selling the idea of helping Jade a little more difficult. I helped Chuck up just as Jonah and Ava made it over with Chimp and Chu.

"What's going on Brent?" Jonah demanded from me.

"Guys, let's all calm down," by the way Chimp and Vesper were growling I knew that would be tough. "This is Jade Hawk, and she has an interesting story, which is why agreed to help her out. She's been living in this cave for a year, hiding out from some crazy people." I went on to explain the story she told me about her village and school and Vesper.

"So, you want us to let her travel out of the cave and to Oreburgh with us?" Ava asked.

"Yeah, I do. She could use the help. She hasn't eaten properly in months, and hasn't been with other humans in even longer. Besides, she has to get back to school and finish her final year so she can become a legal trainer."

"I'm sorry about Vesper. He's just hungry. Like Brent said, we haven't eaten properly in a while." Jade apologized, clearly hoping to be allowed to stick with the group.

"If you can lead us out of here, then I'm cool with you sticking around. Clearly Brent trusts you, and you definitely could use a good meal. Besides, I don't know if Ava likes being the only girl around here," leave it to Chuck to be the voice of reason.

Everyone agreed that we should help Jade. Jonah returned Chimp to prevent another fight with Vesper and Jade took the lead with Chu by her side to light the way back.

Chuck

"Jade, why don't you return Vesper?" I asked

"I don't have a Pokeball for him. He's not legally my Pokemon, just my friend. I'm not a licensed trainer anyway so I can't have Pokemon yet," she sounded sad about that, like it hurt her that Vesper wasn't actually hers.

"So you're going to go back to Pastoria U and finish your final year of trainer school then?" Ava was trying to be friendly with Jade, I guess I was right about the only girl thing.

"That's the plan. I'm gonna stick with you guys until Oreburgh and catch a flight to Pastoria as soon as possible."

It didn't take long to get back to the campsite. We found Connor and his three Pokemon had prepared a delicious meal for us. We introduced Connor to Jade and then went to sleep.

"You can use my sleeping bag if you'd like Jade," Brent offered.

"I'll be fine. I think I can handle the stone one more night. I'll just sleep by the fire, but thanks."

In the morning we made it to the exit of the cave and welcomed the sunlight like an old friend, none of us as much as Jade.

**So what'd you guys think? I guess no one has any good Pokemon nicknames? I would still love it if you guys could give me ideas for nicknames for any Pokemon you want. I'll be using as many of them as I can manage. Lemme know what you guys think of the story so far and keep reading!**


	8. The Alpha-Off

**Hey everybody! So this chapter is short, but that's okay cuz I'm excited for whats to come in this story! I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am!**

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Chapter Eight: The Alpha-Off

When we finally made it out of the cave and onto Route 207 we just laid in the sunlight for a while. I didn't realize how much I would miss it. Jade was more excited than anyone though. She was running in circles with her arms spread out soaking up as many rays as humanly possible. I couldn't blame her, it had been almost a year since she'd seen the sun.

It was also the first chance any of us had to get a good look at her. She was around Ava's height, maybe a little bit taller, but she was as thin as a twig from living off of scraps. Her skin was as pale as could be from not seeing sunlight for so long. Her pitch black hair was long and untamed, and she had piercing green eyes. Once she had a few good meals and some outdoors time she would become a really pretty girl.

Our trek to Oreburgh was going extremely smoothly compared to the cave. Jade turned out to be extremely helpful when it came to collecting food, and she was good company. Her and Ava spent a lot of time at the back of the group talking about who knows what. Vesper was not as cheery as Jade, though. He was scaring away any trainer that came our way so we couldn't battle anyone new. He wasn't exactly used to trusting humans other than us yet. He also tried picking fights with Chimp at any chance possible.

One afternoon, things got particularly out of hand. We were all sitting around eating lunch and out of nowhere Vesper full out Tackled Chimp. Needless to say this did not make Chimp happy. He immediately retaliated with a Mach Punch and they started to tussle. Jonah returned his agitated starter to try to stop the fighting, but Vesper just attacked Jonah instead.

"Control your Pokemon, Jade!" he yelled while struggling to keep Vesper off of him.

"Vesper, stop it! Now!" Vesper was completely ignoring Jade so she ran over and grabbed him. She whispered in his ear and managed to at least get him to stop attacking. He kept growling at Jonah though.

"What is the deal with those two?" Brent asked.

"I think Vesper wants to finish the battle they were having in the cave," Jade pointed out. "He doesn't like losing."

"I think it might be more than that," Jonah started to explain while catching his breath. "Vesper is obviously really strong and experienced. I think he feels like he needs to usurp Chimp as the sort of alpha male figure of this group to gain respect."

"But that's ridiculous! We all respect Vesper!" Ava said.

"How do you know X isn't the alpha male?" I asked, slightly offended my dragon wasn't considered strong enough for Vesper to attack regularly.

"Maybe because X does whatever Chimp tells him too," I recalled just ten minutes earlier Chimp trying to teach X Fire Punch, which was not working. "I know we all respect Vesper, but he doesn't get that. You have to understand, he's still technically a wild Pokemon, so he doesn't really get to whole team concept of things." I couldn't believe how Jonah was able to psycho-analyze Vesper like that. "I think we should let them battle so they can prove to themselves who is stronger."

"Are you sure? Vesper can get pretty nasty," Jade asked.

"Chimp can handle it," Jonah promised. "Connor could you ref the match for us?"

"Gladly," Connor walked to what would be the center of the battle field and readied himself.

"Can we let our Pokemon watch so they can learn something," I wanted X and Super to pay close attention to a battle between really strong Pokemon.

"It's fine by me, how about you, Jade?" Jonah asked

"I think it's a great idea. If Vesper is gonna be my Pokemon when I start the Gym Circuit he's gonna have to learn how to battle with an audience."

With that I called over Super and X to watch the battle. My Starly perched himself on top of my head, and my Axew leapt into my arms for good vantage points. I looked over to see Thalassa and Athena in Ava's arms, Brent holding Bubbles with Juggernaut standing next to them, and even Connor called over Xavier, Bernard, and Dexter to watch the battle. Even Jonah had Kori, Thrash, and Geno watch the battle.

"Ready when you are," Jade said.

"Alright then, Chimp let's go!" Jonah tossed out Chimp's Pokeball and the fire monkey threw a few punches at the air to get ready.

"Let the battle begin," Connor exclaimed, waving his arms.

Vesper waited no time to use a Faint Attack, hitting Chimp right in the stomach.

"Chimp, retaliate with Mach Punch!" Jonah commanded his starter. His Pokemon obeyed throwing a speeding punch that hit Vesper right on the head and knocking him backwards.

Vesper got up and growled menacingly, but Chimp growled right back. "Chimp, follow it up with Flame Charge!" Jonah was implementing his favorite strategy, raise Chimp's speed and then throw attacks in wild bunches to finish battles quickly. Surprisingly Vesper avoided the attack, he was extremely fast. "Vesper has great speed, we'll just have to match it. Keep up the Flame Charges!" Chimp ran after vesper with flames billowing around his body, all the while gaining momentum. After dodging four more Flame Charges Chimp was just too fast, he landed a direct hit. Vesper slid across the dirt.

"Vesper, get up, you can do it!" Jade called. It was the first thing she had said the whole battle.

"Chimp, finish this off with Fire Punch!" Chimp ran toward Vesper with his fist enveloped in flames, the battle appeared to be over. At the last second Vesper used a Quick Attack to escape. He ran around Chimp and hit him in the back, running at an incredible speed. "Damn, match its speed. Use Mach Punch!"

"Vesper, Bite!" Vesper looked slightly surprised by Jade's command and hesitated. Chimp took advantage of the hesitation and landed a Mach Punch.

"Great Chimp, follow it with Ember, keep your distance!" Chimp peppered Vesper with spurts of flames that landed before Vesper could react. Vesper stood up after the attack and stared down Chimp, but he was wincing like he was in pain. "He's burnt Chimp great job, that'll make this easier."

"Not so fast Jonah!" Jade called. Vesper's rings glowed and Jade smiled. "Synchronize, now you're burnt too."

"Was that an attack," I wondered out loud.

"No. It's Vesper's ability, Synchronize. It passes on status problems, like burns, to the opponent," Connor answered me.

"Not quite, Jade. Fire types don't get burnt, do they Chimp?" Chimp shouted a battle cry in response to his trainer and threw his fist in the air. "So now all of your physical attacks you keep using are weaker, and you'll be taking damage from the burn. Let's wrap this up, Flame Wheel!" Chimp spun a ring of fire around himself and charged Vesper, landing a direct hit. Vesper skid across the ground knocked out.

"Vesper is unable to battle! Chimp and Jonah are the winners!" Connor yelled as officially as possible.

"Oh no, Vesper!" Jade ran to her friend.

Jonah walked to Chimp and scratched his head, proud of his starters battling skills. "Chimp, let's go make peace," the two of them walked over to where Jade and Vesper were. Vesper had just regained consciousness, and looked extremely disappointed. Jonah handed Jade a Burn Heal, and congratulated her on a great battle. "You two have a lot of potential. But, you're going to have to start commanding the battle a little more instead of just letting Vesper run around. I'd be happy to help you guys out as much as I can."

"I know. It's just that Vesper is such a free spirit and can usually win battles on his own. And he has so much pride, I don't want to take that away from him," Jade said as she treated Vesper's wounds.

"You don't have to. You just have to hone it down and find a strategy that works for you. That's why Chimp and I always use our speed strategy, it fits both of us well. You guys just have to find a way to battle that suits you as a trainer and Vesper as the battler."

"Thanks Jonah," Jade said.

At that point we had all come over to congratulate them on a great battle, and our Pokemon were all fired up. "I think it's time Chimp and Vesper became friends," Ava said.

"You're right. Chimp let's end this feud," Jonah told his starter.

"Vesper you too. There's no need for all of the fighting."

Chimp extended his hand to the Umbreon and waited for a reply. After a long pause Vesper put his paw in Chimp's hand and they agreed to become friends.

"Besides, it's great to have a friendly rivalry. Vesper and Chimp can only get stronger from battling each other," Jonah said. "Now what do you say we get to Oreburgh. I bet if we make good time we can make it by sunset.

Jonah was right. We hoofed it through the rest of Route 207 and made it to the gates of Oreburgh City as the sun was setting. Our first Gym Battle was right around the corner

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**So what do you guys think? Are you enjoying it so far? I'm really excited about the next couple chapters. There's gonna be Gym Battles and some new characters I hope you're ready! Lemme know what you guys think with some reviews! Thanks!**


	9. Oreburgh City

Chapter Nine: Oreburgh City

Oreburgh City was a complete madhouse. There were trainers everywhere. Battles were breaking out in the streets, people were asking to make trades left and right, and kids were passing out from a difficult journey from their hometown.

Since Oreburgh had the first official Gym in the League Circuit every new trainer was flocking here. The scariest part was that we were part of the early rush, considering we only lived a city away. New trainers from places like Sunyshore would take a much longer time to get here unless they had access to a plane, and the city would become even more crowded.

Naturally, the first thing I wanted to do was find the gym. "Alright guys, let's go win us a Coal Badge!"

"You have got to be kidding me," Ava groaned. Her dark red hair was in mats, her clothes were covered in dirt, and she looked ready to pass out.

"What, Ava? I'm excited to win me a gym battle," I said happily, and to everyone's annoyance.

"Dude, you can't rest for like ten minutes before running off to the gym?" Brent looked not so different from Ava, dirt everywhere, tattered clothes, and he still had cuts on his dark skin from running after Jade in the cave.

"I think it would be best to go check into the Pokemon Center as soon as possible so we can make sure we get a room. They're the only place that's gonna let us stay free, and we can schedule your gym battles from there too," Jonah was the only one who didn't look completely beaten by our trip from Hearthome.

I gave our group a scan to really take in what we had been through. Ava and Brent looked like hell, but the trip actually seemed to have helped Connor. His hair had grown in the month and a half since we left and was threatening to cover up his eyes and his glasses were lost in Mt. Coronet somewhere, so he didn't look as small and wimpy as he did when we left. He had even managed to gain some muscle mass. Jade, though she was used to living in the wild, was not used to the sun. Her skin had changed from ghost white to a painful shade of red. All of the exposure to sunlight had given her a nasty sunburn, but she had managed to gain some weight and didn't look like a stick anymore. Jonah was the only one who didn't look downright beat though. He was shorter than Brent, but taller than me, he was really muscular and had long dreadlocks down his back. You could tell he was used to the strain and was good at the little things in a trainer's life that you could only learn through experience.

I realized my friends were right and we made our way to the Pokemon Center. The nurse who greeted us gave a happy smile and said, "Welcome to the Oreburgh City Pokemon Center, how can I help you?"

"Hi there, we're going to need three rooms, and we would like to check our Pokemon in," we let Jonah handle the talking. The nurse led us upstairs to the third floor, let us into three separate rooms, and collected our Pokeballs.

"Jonah, how do we know we'll get the right Pokeballs back?" I asked.

"Each Pokeball has a code that can be scanned that finds the Trainer I.D. number of its owner. That's why you had to swipe your Trainer Card."

"So do you guys wanna get cleaned up and then meet downstairs in the cafeteria in an hour?" Brent asked.

We agreed it was a good idea and went into our separate rooms. Brent and I went into one room leaving Jonah with Connor, and Ava with Jade. The room was small. It had a bathroom to the right when you walked in and two beds along the wall when you got past the bathroom. There was a TV across from the beds, which Brent switched on right away to the Gym Circuit Channel. The screen showed the busy streets of Oreburgh, bustling with new trainers, some who appeared alone, lost, and confused. It made me glad to be in a comfortable Pokemon Center with friends. The TV reporter interrupted my thoughts saying "The Oreburgh Gym is backed up by days with the swarm of new trainers. Leader Roark Mynor said that he has handled the new trainer rush many times before and is ready for this year's rush as well."

"Aw man! The gym is backed up? That sucks!" I complained, cutting off the reporter.

"It'll be fine, man. Besides, we can go and watch some battles and figure out how we're gonna beat Roark. Plus, the sooner we leave Oreburgh, the sooner we leave Jonah, Connor, and Jade. We're all taking off in different directions, remember?" Brent said.

"That's true, I'm just so excited to start winning badges and entering tournaments," I told him.

"I know how you feel, but this journey is gonna be a marathon, not a sprint. It's gonna take a long time."

Yeah you're right. I'm gonna wash up," I told him. By the time we were both showered and discovered our rooms had laundry machines it was time to meet everyone for dinner.

We found Jonah and Connor in the cafeteria sitting at a table talking about Connor's interests in researching and sat down to join them. My interest in their conversation lasted an entire four seconds before I got both confused and bored so Brent and I zoned them out. "So how come you want to string out the time till Jade leaves?" I said, starting conversation.

"What? I don't know. I mean she's cool, I like having her around," Brent answered with a smile.

"Sounds to me like you think she more than cool," I said.

"Maybe I do. But she's leaving soon so I don't wanna get too attached or anything. Besides, I'm sure we'll see her again someday," he couldn't hide the hope in his voice.

"Sounds like you've got a problem on your hands," I told him. I couldn't help but smile, I definitely saw the appeal in liking Jade, but I was too busy for personal romances, I had dreams.

"I'm not gonna act on anything though. I don't want things to get weird."

Just as Brent and I finished our talk about the girls they sat down next to us. "So, are we eating or just sitting here?" Jade asked, shooting Brent a smile.

"We were waiting for you, ladies first," Jonah said as he gestured them toward the line for food.

We had all gotten food and were enjoying our first real dinner in over a month when Jonah started laying out a plan of action. "I think the three of you should schedule your Gym Battles right after we eat, that way you can get in as soon as possible. I'm gonna stay with you guys until your battles then I'm gonna have to get out of here. I told Connor that Vic and I would go with him to Sandgem Town."

"Who's Vic?" we all asked at once.

"Vic was my mentor when I first started out. He's one of the finalists to take over the Canalave Gym for Byron when he retires. It just so happens him and I are both heading to Canalave City so he agreed to meet me here and travel together."

"Woah, he must be really strong then?" I asked, excited to meet the mentor of my mentor.

"He definitely is. He's gotten every badge using only Steel Type Pokemon, and he's been participating in a tournament to take over Byron's Gym," Jonah looked proud of his mentor as he told us this. "He's actually meeting us here tonight."

Like clockwork a huge guy, probably early to mid-twenties, with a buzz cut and a hard jaw line smacked Jonah on the back. "Lil Jo! It's great to see you man!"

Jonah stood up and gave his friend a hug before introducing us, "Vic, these are my friends Ava Simmons, Jade Hawk, Chuck Long, Connor Hall, and my brother Brent. Guys this is Vic Silver."

We all greeted him at once, smiling and waving. I was extremely intimidated by him, he had the look of a strong Gym Leader already.

"I actually want you to meet my sister, Jo," Vic waved over to the crowd of people from behind him and the most beautiful girl I had ever seen came walking toward us. She had long, wavy, blonde hair, perfectly not-too-tan skin, and mesmerizing blue eyes. She walked over with an air of confidence and strength. "This is my sister Rosie."

"It's Rose, please don't call me Rosie," she introduced herself to us.

"Hi, I'm Luck!" I yelled too loud.

"Luck, that's an interesting name," she answered me.

"I mean, Chuck. Long. My name is Chuck Long. Hi. Nice to meet you," I could feel Brent's laughter next to me without looking, I was so embarrassed.

She let out a little giggle but didn't say anything else as everyone else introduced themselves. Rose and Vic joined us for dinner and told us about themselves. Vic told us stories about him and Jonah two years ago, and how proud he was of "Lil Jo", and he told us about the tournament he had been in to become Gym Leader. I couldn't help but look up to the guy, he was awesome. What really got my attention was when he started bragging about his sister. "Rosie won herself the Coal badge today," he said as he pat her on the back.

"You already have the Coal Badge?!" I yelled, again, too loud.

"Yeah, I graduated from here in Oreburgh so I was able to schedule a battle early and this last month and a half I've been training. I won on my first try. I'm leaving for Eterna City in the morning."

My heart broke a little bit when she said she was leaving soon. I wanted to go with her and I didn't even know her. So much for dreams.

"Could you tell us about the battle?" Ava asked interestedly.

Rose went on to tell the story of battling Roark, but I zoned out thinking about what our babies would look like. By the time she was done everyone looked entertained so I masked the same look.

"Excuse me, are you Chuck Long?" I turned around to see the nurse from earlier.

"Yeah, that's me," I said.

"I have your Pokemon here," she handed me my two Pokeballs with a smile.

I thanked her as she left and turned toward the table, "I think I'm gonna turn in for the night guys," I pocketed my Pokeballs and started walking out of the room.

I was walking up the stairs when I heard bounding behind me. I turned around to see Rose running to catch up to me, "I know you!" she yelled.

"Huh?" was all I could muster.

"You're Chuck Long. You finished fifth in the region this year."

"Yeah, that's me."

"I finished sixth, if you hadn't beaten me I would be famous for being on TV now," she didn't look angry, more playful.

"Well, I'm sure Sinnoh would have rather seen you than me on their TV screens," _that was so stupid sounding, _I thought as I said it.

"Thanks," she smiled, maybe even blushed. "Shouldn't you be scheduling your Gym Battle?"

"Oh crap, your right. I don't even know how to do that!" I, again, felt like an idiot in front of her.

"I'll show you, follow me," she grabbed my hand and led me back down the stairs toward the front desk of the Center. "So what kind of Pokemon do you have Luck?"

"My name's Chuck, and I have an Axew and a Starly, their names are X and Super," I told her embarrassed that I had earned myself a stupid nickname. "What about you?"

"Weren't you listening to my riveting Gym Battle story?" she asked playfully.

"I guess I zoned out, sorry," I felt bad, but I was definitely not going to tell her what I was thinking about.

"That's alright, you'll just have to meet them as a punishment," she said as we got to the front desk. "Hi, this is Chuck Long and he would like to schedule a Gym Battle with Roark."

"Okay, the next available time to battle is this Friday at noon," the clerk answered her.

"He'll take it," Rose answered for me.

"I'll just need to see your Trainer I.D." I handed the man my Trainer Card and waited for him to swipe it and hand it back. "Perfect, Charles Long, scheduled to battle Roark Mynor at twelve P.M. on Friday."

"Ooh, your full name is Charles?" Rose asked as she pulled me away from the desk.

I walked Rose up to her room, more because I just kept walking as we talked than that I was being a gentleman. She was actually really cool, it made me even sadder that she was leaving the next morning, which I was stupid enough to say. "I wish you weren't leaving tomorrow."

"I am having fun with you. How about this? Let's battle in the morning. If you beat me I'll stay, if not, I'll get a head start to Eterna," she took my lame blurt in stride, almost like she appreciated it.

"Deal."

The next morning I was more nervous than I could ever remember. I didn't know why the battle felt so important to me. I released my two Pokemon in my room while Brent was showering. "Alright guys, we're gonna be battling a girl named Rose today and I really like her. If we win she's gonna stay until our Gym Battle on Friday to watch us. If we lose she's gonna leave," my Pokemon stared back at me like I was crazy. "You don't want to lose a battle do you?" This rendered and angry "_Axew_" from X, who was battle-crazy.

An hour later I was on the battlefield staring down Rose. She looked great again, dressed for battle, with her hair tied back in a ponytail. Connor was reffing for us, it was something he seemed to really enjoy doing. Brent, Ava, Jade, Jonah, and Vic were all sitting on the sidelines cheering.

"How's a two-on-two battle sound to you guys?" Connor asked us. We both simply nodded our heads. "Then, begin!"

Just like that the curtain was raised and my nerves were gone. "Super, let's go!" I released my Starly and he let out a fierce caw.

"I like the sound of a sky battle! Blu, let's show them how to fly!" she threw a Pokeball and a tiny blue bird with cotton-like wings came out. I used my Pokedex to find out it was a Swablu.

"Super, Quick Attack!" my bird flew at a blazing speed toward hers and made first contact.

"Blu, counter with Astonish!" Rose's Swablu let out a terrible scream as it charged into Super.

"Keep the Quick Attacks going! She can't keep up with you!" my Starly obeyed flying around the battlefield at great speed and ramming into Blu in midair.

"Blu, we need to slow this down, use Sing!" as Super banked around to start another Quick Attack the little blue bird began to sing a calming song and before I could do anything Super was falling toward the ground, asleep. "Change your song, use Round!" the sleepy melody immediately turned into a harsh sounding, violent song, and I could see Super was taking damage from it.

"Super, you've gotta wake up!" it was no use.

"Super is unable to battle. Blu is the winner!" Connor called out.

"You're pretty vicious, Rosie," I called across the battlefield.

"Every rose has its thorns, Luck. Mine happen to come out on the battlefield."

"Alright, here we go. X, it's all up to you buddy!" I released my starter and he let out a battle cry.

"Blu, start this out with a Peck," Rose's starter soared toward mine preparing to strike with its sharp beak.

"X, don't let it get close. Use Dragon Rage!" X obeyed, releasing a furious purple fire from his mouth. It engulfed the Swablu and knocked it out immediately.

"Blu is unable to battle, X is the winner," Connor kept the ref-shtick going.

"X is lucky Blu took a lot of Quick Attacks in that first battle. Bumper won't be so easy though!" she threw her second Pokeball and another blue creature came out. This one had purple antennae sticking out of either side of its head, had no arms, and a stubby tail and feet. It was a Wooper.

"X, give it a Dragon Rage!" X released another purple flame toward the Mud Fish Pokemon but it rolled out of the way.

"Mud Shot!" the Wooper spat a stream of mud at X and hit him in the face, partly blinding him. "Follow with Slam!" it ran into my Axew and sent him rolling across the battlefield, still struggling to get the mud out of his eyes. "Get in close and use Mud Shot again!"

"X, use Dual Chop when you feel Bumper get close to you!" X closed his eyes, ignoring the mud, and his claws glowed with the purple flame of a Dragon Attack. He swung too early and fell over as Bumper hit him with a close range Mud Shot, ending the battle. We were going to have to work on that strategy some more.

"X is unable to battle. Bumper is the winner. The match goes to Rose!" Connor officially ended the match.

I ran over to my starter and wiped his face clean of mud. He opened his eyes to let me know he was okay, but I could tell he was upset, he hated to lose. I returned X to his Pokeball and walked over to Rose. "Congratulations, that was a great battle."

"Thanks. You're gonna beat Roark easy," she shook my hand as she said this.

"I appreciate that. It's too bad you won't be here to watch it," I said to her.

"That's true it is a shame, but you're not the only one with dreams," she smiled as she said this and right before she turned away she said, "Besides, I'm gonna have to stick around until my Pokemon are healed now, so I probably won't be able to leave until tomorrow morning. Catch you around Luck," she gave me a wink as she turned and walked toward the Center.

I turned toward my friends who were motioning for me to join them, but I turned back and chased after Rose mumbling something about healing my Pokemon. I heard my friends laughing as I ran away, but I didn't care. I wanted to spend as much time with Rose as possible before she left.


End file.
